Without limiting the scope of the invention, its background is described in connection with vehicle safety. Despite the sophistication of modern vehicles, the brake light systems of vehicles today remain very simple—an operator applies pressure to the brake pedal and the brake lights are illuminated. A vehicle's brake lights indicate that the operator is applying pressure to the brake pedal, but do not indicate the urgency of the braking or magnitude of the deceleration. In other words, the brake lights “light up” in the same manner whether the vehicle is making a soft stop or a hard or panic stop. As a result, those following the vehicle have a difficult time determining if the braking is a soft stop or a hard or panic stop.
Warning other nearby vehicles of rapid or urgent deceleration of a vehicle has been of great interest, but has not been adopted by car manufacturers most likely as a result of cost, reliability concerns and/or lack of governmental regulations. The proposed systems typically require installation of various sensors, such as accelerometers, and processor(s) to calculate deceleration values that are then compared to threshold values to determine whether to illuminate the brake lights. Some of these systems illuminate the brake lights even if the operator does not apply pressure to the brake pedal.
There is, therefore, a need for an inexpensive, reliable and easily installed device to warn others that a vehicle is braking hard, sliding, or not under control.